"I know there's a lot of nose holding in politics," Kasi said snidely.
"So," Charlie said loudly and looked at his watch. "Don't you two have an event to get to in the South End?"
Kasi looked at her watch. "You're right!" she said, then grabbed David's arm before he could finish his food.
Kasi muttered on the ride over as she checked her phone and sent emails. "Are you going to stop now?" David asked as they neared Tremont Street.
She didn't look up. "I'm not allowed to be upset now?"
"Fine, you want to be upset?" David asked evenly. "Then when do I get to throw another tantrum about you not telling me who your source is?"
Now she looked up. "You know I can't tell you that."
"And why is that?"
"Because..." She exhaled. "That isn't how things are done."
"Hmm," David said as he pulled into a parking space. "Just checking."
Kasi got out of the car. "But maybe you can tell me why you want to know."
David looked at her blankly. "Why wouldn't I want to know? I'm a curious guy."
"Because...maybe that's not what you want to know," Kasi said as he came over to her on the sidewalk.
They walked to the corner. "If I don't want to know his name, what do I want to know?"
She pressed the button to change the traffic light. "Whatever the question is, the answer isn't exactly 'no', but it definitely isn't 'yes'."
"Oh," he said as they started to cross. Kasi thought she heard tires squeak in the distance. "That's good to—"
"Stay in your part of town, asshole!" someone shouted from a car driving down Massachusetts Avenue. Kasi thought the car looked familiar, but before she could say anything, someone else from the backseat threw a bottle out the window, hitting David in the head. The car sped away as David fell and Kasi screamed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
David woke up in a hospital room and saw Charlie and Martin standing over him. "Oh, thank God!" Charlie said.
"Charlie?" David asked. He tried to move his head, but it felt like an anvil. He moaned. "What happened?"
"You don't remember?"
David opened and closed his eyes twice. "Of course I do. Some jerk threw a bottle at my head." He opened his eyes wide. "Where's Kasi?"
"The doctors are checking her out."
"What?" David forced himself to sit up. "What happened to her?"
Martin rubbed his temples. "Sounds like she managed to move you to the corner and then saw your phone in the street. She went to get it and a car almost hit her."
"Oh my God!" David exclaimed, ignoring the throbbing in his head. "The same one?"
"No, no," Charlie said. "It wasn't going that fast, and the driver got out as soon as he saw what he'd done. He's actually the one who called the police."
"Is she—"
"She didn't lose consciousness," Charlie reassured him. "She's got a pretty nasty gash on her leg, but that's it."
"When can I get out of here?" David asked, holding his head.
"As soon as the doctor decides you haven't knocked your brain loose," Charlie said sternly.
"Good thing I'm not that smart," David said, but laughter would have hurt.
Kasi came in three minutes later and rushed to his side. "Are you okay?" she asked, grabbing his hand.
"I'm fine," David said, but didn't let go of her. "But are you alright? A car hit you?"
"Almost hit me," Kasi corrected, still not letting go of his hand. "It was an accident; he couldn't see me because I was bending down."
"For the record, I backup my data every night," David said earnestly. "Next time you don't need to risk your life to get my stuff."
Kasi's grip tightened around his fingers, and he squeezed back. "Those things are really expensive to replace. I don't want to have to ask for another donation just because you lost your phone."
"You are always thinking," David said. "It's one of the things I like about you."
There was a knock on the door. Kasi was suddenly aware that she was holding David's hand and that Charlie was staring. Martin cleared his throat and went to the door as Kasi let go of David.
All four blinked when they saw who it was. Black hair, blue eyes, fair and tall: Attorney General Jason Powers.
"David, I am so sorry about what happened today," Powers said, walking past Kasi, Charlie and Martin and going straight to the bed.
"Hello, Jason," David said as calmly as he could. "Thank you for coming, but as you can see, it's not that serious."
"You'll have to excuse me, David, but my job is to take hate crimes in this state seriously."
"Hate crime?" Kasi repeated. "This wasn't a hate crime; this was someone else's campaign."
"Now what did you call that last time?" Charlie asked thoughtfully. "Oh right—'typical election year politicking'."
Jason turned to face Charlie. "Gavin, don't you think that's a slightly different kettle of fish? Was anyone hurt as a result of your, I'm sorry, unfounded accusations?"
"Of course not. But the Freedom of Information Act? That's another story."
"I can't do anything about that," Jason said, and Kasi did her best to stifle her laughter. "But I can get the guy who did this."
"A hate crime?" David said disapprovingly. "He told me to stay in my part of town, but he didn't say anything that could be construed as racist."
"You're an Asian American male who was attacked by a white man in broad daylight. Believe me, we'll be able to make hate crime stick."
"So the police have the guy already?" David asked.
"No, but it's just a matter of time. Your aide gave a pretty good description of the car and the driver."
"Wow, the wheels of justice are remarkably quick today," Kasi said incredulously. "Because I gave that description twenty minutes ago. I didn't realize they had enough time to escalate this to the AG."
Jason stood up straight. "David, I can sell this as a hate crime, and we can link this Nelson easily."
Martin looked at Charlie. "I guess Nelson must have dropped in the polls since we left the office."
"Thank you, but no thank you," David said, keeping himself from clenching his jaw. "I want to see what the police investigation says first. If they think it's a hate crime, you'll be the first I have them contact."
Jason swallowed. "Fine. Make sure you do that. And," he said as he opened the door. "Nice room you've got here."
David groaned as soon as he left. He looked around the room for the first time. "Yeah, since when does the ER have a room like this?"
"Oh, that," Martin nodded. "A gift from Lucy."
"And she only sends the best," a man of medium height with thick eyebrows and slicked back dark brown hair said as he entered the room. He closed the door and scrutinized David. "You don't look like someone who just got hit in the head, but I can still make this work."
Charlie looked at the newcomer with annoyance. "And you are?"
"Much more useful than the AG! Len Richards," he said as he handed cards to Kasi, Charlie and Martin. "Media consultant. Lucy was saving me for after the general, but when I heard what happened this afternoon I told her we needed to get in here now," he growled.
David moaned. "Please tell Lucy that I appreciate her generosity, but I'm in no condition to—"
"Nah, I spoke to the doctors; you'll be fine," Len said as he played with his phone. A second later everyone else’s phones beeped. "I just sent you three our media strategy for the next ten days and then three days out from the primary. We have a pretty good idea of how everyone else is going to perform, but you can't plan too far out from that." He turned back to David. "And let me guess, the AG was trying to convince you to prosecute as a hate crime?"
"How did you know that?" Kasi asked.
"Eh, it was an obvious move; white guy hits Asian American guy with bottle from a moving car; easy sell, and it makes Powers look good in the race against his Latina opponent for the Congressional seat." He patted David's ankle. "And because you'
re smart you said no."
"And because it's not true," David said emphatically.
"Eh, details," Len said with a wave of his arm. "More importantly, that would have made you look weak and vulnerable, and while there's an advantage to that at certain points in the campaign, we don't have enough time to let the public see you emerge from your chrysalis stronger than ever and all that jazz."
"How convenient," David muttered.
"Yep! One of those times that being right is also correct. But we do have to get on top of this as soon as you can sit up."
"The doctors said he can probably go home by tomorrow morning," Charlie said, trying to suppress a smile. "But they still need to check him out."
"Tomorrow morning? Please. I'll give you an hour, two hours tops." His phone beeped. He read the screen for a moment before he held it up. "This is the Globe Metro section editor—fourth call. And the Herald has asked for a statement three times already."
"Wait a minute!" Kasi exclaimed. "You just walked in here; why have they been contacting you?"
"I had Lucy's office call your office and told them to send all calls and emails for this to me," he answered out of hand. "Anyway! As soon as you can sit up for thirty minutes straight—because that's how long this is going to take, minimum—we'll be holding a press conference right here."
Charlie wasn’t smiling anymore. "Press conference? No, that is the wrong move; we need to release a statement before we hold a conference."
Len smiled, and Kasi suppressed a chuckle when she saw Charlie blink. "I like you," Len said, waving his finger as Charlie blushed. "Lots of declarative statements. That's good. And you're right. The statement is going out in a few minutes. Here you go." He pressed a few keys on his phone, causing everyone’s phones to beep again. "You should review that; I did my best to match David's usual patterns of writing, but you're the experts."
"I'm the expert!" David said indignantly. "Look, I'm sorry, it sounds like you're good at your job and as always I appreciate Lucy's assistance, but right now all I can think about is how much my head hurts."
Len opened the door and grabbed one of the nurses. "Excuse me, Mr. Hwang needs some painkiller. And by the way where is that doctor?" He closed the door. "You'll be fine in half an hour. And by then you'll have realized that you have a unique opportunity to capitalize on your already impressive momentum—this is a good team you've got here—and that today is the day you go from being the comeback kid to Boston's presumptive mayor."
Kasi looked up from her phone and looked into David’s eyes. "Do it," she said. "This is a good statement. And I'm tired of worrying about bullies when I take teenage volunteers out to canvass."
"You’re sure?"
"Yes."
"I am, too, in case you were wondering," Charlie said while Martin snickered.
"Fine," David said. "What should I say?"
"Good choice!" Len boomed. "This was not a hate crime, and here's why your policy on crime makes more sense..."
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Kasi marveled at the number of people who could fit into the hospital room. Was this why Lucy had moved him?
She, Charlie and Martin checked their phones as David gave his statement and answered questions to see what the reaction was on Twitter. She looked at them several times and tried not to grin.
"Mr. Hwang, do you know who did this to you?" a reporter from the Herald asked.
"My people have encountered one of the individuals before, but we do not know the person's name or anything else about him."
"Sources in the police department say that the suspect is connected to John Nelson's campaign, and he has just issued a statement condemning the attack and vowing to help bring your attacker to justice. What is your reaction?"
"That both John and I need to let the police do their jobs." He paused. "I also want to say that while John and I both want to win very badly, if the connection bears out, I do not believe that this was a planned attack."
"And you don't believe this was a hate crime?" the political reporter from Boston Magazine asked.
David smiled. "For whatever it's worth, I think we've evolved to the point where it’s possible for a Korean-American to be attacked in this town without it needing to have anything to do with his race."
There was light laughter, then the next question from the Boston Business Journal: "Should the other candidates be worried?"
"I am absolutely sure that this is an isolated incident, and I trust that until the primary we will all be able to do our jobs across the city without any fear of harassment."
"Do you believe this will help your campaign?" someone from the Daily Dot asked.
"Absolutely," David said, and was met with stunned silence. "I expect the head wound is going to make me think much more clearly."
Kasi looked at Len while everyone laughed. He nodded, and she walked over to David's bed. "Thank you everyone, but that's enough for today. As you can imagine, David needs to get his rest so the doctors can give him the all clear as soon as possible. If you have any questions, please contact Charlie Gavin or Len Richards. Thank you." Charlie opened the door as Len and Martin escorted the press out.
Charlie grinned as soon as the reporters were gone. "I bet Nelson is wishing his guy didn't have such a good aim right about now. Twitter is blowing up and you've got students from your scholars program talking about how much you did for them and their families. You've also got a lot of the people you helped get services for in your first term talking about what a wonderful person you are."
"No conspiracy theories yet?" David asked.
"Nah," Charlie shrugged. "That's on your Facebook page; people have more space to go on there."
"Even better," Kasi said as she looked at her screen, "Kevin and Ray are saying that not only have volunteers had to come back for flyers several times, they've also had seven people walk in off the street to help out."
"Really?" Charlie asked excitedly. "Tell those two to buy some donuts and keep them there until you can assign them some work."
"No, we're going to the office," Len said as he and Martin re-entered the room. "Kasi is going to take David home. I just spoke to the doctor and she's going to release you as soon as you can sign the paperwork."
"Excuse me," Kasi said heatedly. "But the volunteers are my responsibility. Why can't Charlie take David home?"
"Because you have to change your clothes anyway," Len said, pointing to the bandage on her leg and her slightly torn dress. "You were also injured. What's the harm in getting a good night's sleep?"
"Don't worry Kasi," Charlie said reassuringly, stealing a knowing glance at Len. "I'll make sure the new volunteers have their assignments."
"Okay, but don't overwhelm them!" Kasi said as he started to open the door. "Give them something they can easily do, then give them the harder things. And for God's sake, no phone banking tonight!"
"Good thing I've never worked with volunteers before," Charlie said snidely as they turned to leave.
"Martin, I want you to keep your ear to the ground on this," David said before they could leave. "Find out whatever you can from Donnelly’s people."
"I’ve already reached out," Martin said, "but they’re genuinely blindsided. Someone’s trying to get some intel from Nelson’s people, but they seem convinced that he was shocked."
But was he ‘shocked, shocked’?" David asked drily.
"See you bright and early tomorrow!" Len said cheerfully as they closed the door.
Kasi drove David home an hour and a half later. "Charlie sent me a text," she said as they neared his apartment. "It looks like you're not only still up in the polls, but you've gained."
"Wow, too bad I didn't think of this four years ago," David said, closing his eyes and leaning his head back.
"Are you going to be alright?" Kasi asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," David said wearily. "But I can't wait to go to sleep."
"Are you sure I shouldn't sleep on your couch to make sure you
're okay?"
"As nice as that sounds, I think people are going to be watching my every move between now and primary day."
Kasi held his gaze. "Next head injury then."
"You're on."
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
"And that's the first thing you want to do today!" Kasi cried the next morning. "Put out an official endorsement of Paloma? Not thank your volunteers, not discuss the polling numbers, but endorse that woman?"
"You saw what Powers did yesterday and you know what he's done before. If it's within my power to keep him away from D.C., I will," David said forcefully.
"But she is like this—" Kasi crossed her fingers—"with Nelson, the guy who threw a bottle at your head yesterday. Do you think she's going to return the favor?"
"And everyone knows that," Len said. "No one except the people in this room know what Powers tried to pull yesterday, so David's endorsement is going to appear magnanimous."
Kasi seethed. "You are also going to piss off half the City Council. Do you know why I left?"
Charlie did a double-take. "You're finally going to tell us?"
"She makes and breaks promises like she changes her shoes! Four councilors from all over the city had been working on a hearing order to upgrade all of the playgrounds and green spaces. She had told all of them what a great idea it was and that she would vote for them. She was going to be their seventh vote—and then she votes against it. I was getting angry calls from every staffer those four had, and then even the other councilors who voted for it. Then the next thing I know she's at a press conference with Cervino where he's announcing a new initiative from his office to put new equipment for all of the playgrounds—and he's thanking her for it! She did that without any warning even to her senior staff—just so she could have three minutes on local television. And she had no idea what I was talking about when I confronted her. She's also a little crazy."
"Like a fox," Len said.
Kasi rounded on him. "And by the way, have the playgrounds been upgraded yet? No, and that was three years ago! And nobody's even talking about the green spaces!"
"Tell me you did not throw away your career at City Hall over playgrounds," Len said in horror.
The Golden Boy Returns (The New Pioneers Book 5) Page 19